Too bad that Atlas is going down the fantasy road.
That is very unfortunate. I didn't like it when MTH started sullying the Premier line, either. That stuff is OK for the lower-end lines, but when you have to ask yourself if something actually existed in the premium product line...
The vendor thinks it boosts sales (and it might), but some of us start doubting the accuracy of the whole product line. And it creates a lot of nagging doubt (and extra research) for those of us who want to model specific roadnames, cars and locomotives, and timeframes.
Silly me 
....and here all along I thought getting into the O3R realm (and out of the stifling stigmas in HO) would allow me to 'fantasize' more, pick nits less.
Just for kicks I picked up the last two MTH catalogs from the coffee table in the living room...went to the Premier freight cars section. Oh dear. I ran out of fingers and toes counting the number of 'fantasy' paint schemes on car bodies made from a common molding die...on trucks that are improbable for that car/railroad/service...having couplers that include Viagra as part of the casting composition...etc., etc., etc.. Ditto the Premier locomotives section, perhaps to a lesser degree. Premier passenger cars' fidelity to prototype?.......good grief, Charlie Brown!
MTH, Lionel, and (in order to compete and reach a broader portion of a declining/aging market) Atlas....are all part of the Toy Train Hobby. You're the CEO/CFO....what would you do with a molding die sitting idle, begging for further amortization (thereby keeping product retail prices acceptable)? Look for some marketability, would be my guess. More car numbers of the same road/paint scheme(s) that hang on to fidelity to prototype but for a geographically limited buying segment? 
Sure, give your 1:1 prototype fans their due....maybe a periodic re-run with a couple or few more new car numbers. But forget the rest of the (a.k.a. majority) O3R market and their plethora of paint passions and preferences? Atlas management bought the Weaver wagon-top tooling expecting to ONLY make Beano-painted product in the future? Seriously?
Now, there are some manufacturers that I would expect to adhere to the fidelity-only mantra. Sunset 3rd Rail would be one of them. There is a difference.
But, everyone is entitled to their opinion and expression thereof. And that's the way it should be...for allofus....IMHO, of course.
KD
